ROBBY ANDREWS, Manalapan, Boys Track

Jun. 14, 2008

Like most other athletes, Manalapan junior Robby Andrews doesn't shoot for second place.

However, when he looks back on his 2008 season, two of his best memories will be from races in which he finished second.

Andrews took second in both the High School Boys Mile at the Penn Relays and the NJSIAA Meet of Champions 1,600, which are the two fastest mile times Andrews has run in his three years of outdoor track.

At the Penn Relays, Andrews moved from the back of the pack heading into the fourth lap of the race to the front 300 meters later in the lap. He nearly ran down winner Cory Leslie, but fell six hundredths-of-a-second short of winning.

At the Meet of Champions, Andrews gave his usual late-race kick, but Ocean City's Brett Johnson led wire-to-wire and had plenty left to hold him off. Johnson ran the race in 4:09.03 and Andrews in 4:11.65.

"You don't ever want to finish second,'' Andrews said. "You want first, you hope for first. But if you get second, especially against great guys like that, it's hard to complain.

"It's also nice because I'm only a junior and I'm going to have another opportunity to run against Johnson, and even if I don't win, I know it's going to make me better.''

In between the two notable second-place finishes, Andrews won the 1,600 at the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV and Group IV Championships, while also winning the 800 at the Monmouth County Championships. Andrews took a liking to the 1,600 this year after making it to the MOC in the 800 last spring, where he finished fourth.

"After running 4:12 indoors at the Millrose Games, I pretty much knew the mile was going to be my race this year,'' Andrews said.

"I really didn't run any great 800 races this year so that made it a little easier to concentrate on the mile, but I thought coming in that the mile would be my race.''